Recovery Guide for Dr. Yates Patients
Dr. Yates has provided the following guide to help patients prepare for surgery and recover from surgery. IMPORTANT, please review the procedure instructions for YOUR specific procedures by clicking the links at the bottom of the page. If you are having or have had more than one procedure in the same surgery it will be important to review them all.
General Recovery Tips
Bruising and swelling occur with almost every surgical procedure. Usually, the swelling lasts for only a few days to weeks. There are steps that can be taken before and after surgery to help minimize bruising and swelling… Read More.
Scars are the necessary trade-off of many plastic surgeries. The goal is a near-invisible, thin, skin-colored scar. Scars are ideally minimized by early attention but there are options for treatment of problem scars as well… Read More.
Prepare your house for surgery
1-2 weeks before surgery you should have your childcare, work arrangements, and caretaker lined up. Depending on the procedure you may have a few recovery items on hand. Start with an organized, clean house and full pantry. If you are making meals, simple prep. meals, and disposable dinnerware.
Prepare your body for surgery
The weeks before surgery are a good time to maximize a healthy diet and stay on top of the exercise. Yoga and heart-healthy exercises are particularly valuable. For almost every procedure stopping smoking 6 weeks before surgery is valuable. For some, it is critical. Avoid excessive alcohol and marijuana prior to surgery as well. Alcohol can thin the blood, and marijuana can affect our sedation protocols; we ask you to avoid both for 2 weeks prior to surgery.
Check your medications and supplements
Some medications such as aspirin, fish-oils, and some supplements can contribute to bleeding and bruising after surgery. If you would like to take SinnEcch for bruising you would want to do so before surgery. The benefit is mild in Dr. Yates’s opinion but some patients swear by it.
Stay away from illness
Avoid getting sick, wash your hands frequently, and avoid contact will people who are ill.
Travel arrangements
We require a responsible adult to be with you at all times immediately after surgery for at least the first 24 hours. Traveling with a care-taker is ideal but other arrangements can be made. Out of town patients should review https://www.yorkyates.com/out-of-town-patient-guide/
With most procedures, office work and light exercise are OK between one to three weeks. For most procedures, there are no restrictions after six weeks.  Check the link for your specific procedure for more specific restrictions and time-line
Dr Yates will give you most everything you need after surgery including garments, bra, scar cream, and dressings as indicated. A few recommended additional supplies are
- Bed that reclines, recliner, or extra bed pillows
- Icy Hot back patch
- Loose baggy clothes
- Paper tape 1″
- Ice packs
- Stool Softener such as Colace
- Ginger Ale
- Antacid such as Tums
- Melatonin (not to be used with pain medications)
- Benadryl
- Cortisone cream
- Neosporin
- Probiotics or yogurt
- Second stage Spanx or Flexees for appropriate procedures
- Flexible straws for drinking
- Water bottles/ Gatorade
- Entertainment such as DVD or Netflix
- Cell phone charger near bed and sofa
After Surgery Instructions
Medication Management
Three Day Pain Management Protocol (unless allergy)
- Tylenol 500 mg - Take 1 every 6 hours for three days
- Celebrex (anti-inflammatory) 200 mg - Take one capsule 2x a day for three days
- Gabapentin/ Neurontin (nerve modulator)Â 300 mg - Take one capsule twice a day for three days
- Oxycodone 5 mg, if unable to control pain adequately with Tylenol and Celebrex add one tablet every 6 hours as needed
- Do not add Aspirin
- Diazepam/ Valium (Muscle Relaxer) - for breast augmentation patients this can be added for muscle stretch discomfort.  Caution when taking with other narcotics
- After these three days you may add Ibuprofen (600-800 mg) for inflammatory pain.  Caution not to take Celebrex and Ibuprofen together.
- Take Zofran or other nausea medication and light food prior to pain medications
Nausea
- Prior to surgery, we will have you take anti-nausea medication (Zofran typically) that will last several hours. You may also get medication for nausea during surgery
- You may take your anti-nausea medication every 6-8 hours for nausea as needed.
- For patients prone to motion sickness we may also use a scopolamine patch before surgery.
Antibiotics
- You will receive an IV dose of antibiotics during surgery
- Start taking your antibiotics as directed the day after surgery
Other
- Some patients experience constipation while taking narcotics. You may purchase Colace or Miralax at any drugstore. Try to get off of the narcotic pain medication as quickly as possible
- Some patients experience itching as a side effect of an antibiotic or narcotic. You may take Benadryl 25 mg every 6 hours as needed
- If you experience a yeast infection, please call or text our office and we will call in a prescription to your pharmacy
Follow-up routine
- Our routine follow up schedule for most procedures is at day one, 3 weeks, 3 months, and one year (and as necessary)
- These appointments can be done through the symplast app or in-person
- For in-app visits, Dr. Yates or our staff will contact you through the app.  Your response should include photos or videos and a report of progress and concerns.
- At each interval, you will be directed to review this recovery section of the website
- Turn on alerts for symplast